rried off her cow and five pullets.'

'What cow-ardly and chicken-hearted fellows, to rob a poor woman in that
manner!' remarked Gregory, grimly.

'Oh yes,' said Ann Harriet; 'and they spit tobacco juice all over her
clean floor, and whittled all over the hearth, and told her it was lucky
for her that she was a widow, for if she hadn't been, they would have
made her one. I should think you would feel dreadfully to have a whole
houseful right opposite.'

'We do feel pretty dreadfully,' replied Gregory; 'often.'

'Miranda, you must have a little company while your cousin is here, and
make her acquainted with some of the ladies and gentlemen of the city,'
said Aunt Farnsworth.

'I should like to, very much, mother; and if you are willing, I will set
about it immediately after breakfast; and perhaps I can arrange things
so as to have it to-morrow night,' was Miranda's reply.

This suggestion was eagerly seconded by Gregory, who always enjoyed the
social parties that his sister had a peculiar knack in getting up at
short notice.

Their pleasant anticipations of the _soiree_ were suddenly checked by
quite a melancholy mishap to the solid Ann Harriet. In reaching forward
to receive a cup of coffee from her aunt, she was obliged to rise a
little from her seat. Now, the chair in which she was sitting had been
broken the day before and was glued together, strong enough for any
ordinary usage, but wholly inadequate to sustain such a weight as now
taxed it; so when Ann 'set back' into the furniture, the already
strained joints came apart, and she felt herself descending to the
floor; to save herself, she clung to the edge of the table, but, of
course, that was no support; on the contrary, it tilted up and launched
its whole contents over the prostrate form of the unfortunate Ann
Harriet. There she lay, pinned to the floor by the heavy table, while
her face and neck and dress were covered with butter, gooseberry pie,
hot coffee, broken eggs, and slices of fried ham. The carpet was in a
similar condition, and the Old Dominion coffee-pot was found expiring
under the sofa.

Mr. Farnsworth, in an attempt to save the table from going over, lost
his own balance, and fell flounder-flat on the floor, where he lay
shuddering, with his hair in a dish of Shaker apple-sauce: the rest of
the family escaped unscathed, but were sadly astonished at the sudden
turn things had taken.

Mr. Farnsworth and Gregory raised the fallen table to i